heroes of the mercury 7 astronauts who made us sit up and pay attention in school as their test flights occurred one after another that got us on the way to the moon. if there was anything that epitomized the role of an astronaut, this was the guy, john glenn. he and the colleagues were the people i emulated or wanted to rub shoulders with some day. i think one of the measures that the country and nasa gave me in my astronaut career was meeting people like rusty schweiker and john glenn. it was a real treat for me as an astronaut. >> what makes it all so remarkable is that both of you and the other select few astronauts on the planet, you belong to a special tra fernity. you experienced something that so few of us have done and it's extraordinary to be part of something so very special and be